affairs fpl. do you want to say a few things? >> i'm jim bush. director of external affairs for florida power and light. we want to thank governor desantis for coming out to greet the men and women who have come to respond to hurricane ian. we have assembled a restoration workforce of more than 19,000. that includes fpl employees, contractors and men and women from partner utilities from around the country. there are more than 30 states represented here today. we have line workers who traveled in at this site from as far as texas and oklahoma, minnesota, and north dakota. all to help florida respond to this challenge. there have been many times that fpl employees have traveled to other states to help them when they were in need and now they are here to return the favor and we're very grateful for them for that. here at the lake city processing site, these men and women will be briefed on the restoration challenges ahead. we will share our work and processes for storm procedures so that everybody i

fpl, we consider safety our number one priority. we want to ensure that our customers know that we're working around the clock to safely and quickly restore power to our customers. you want to assure our customers that they know -- >> power one of the issues for sure is going to be really at a premium in the next couple hours as more and more homes loose power down the line, as hurricane ian barrels towards florida with 155 mile an hour winds. let's go to washington, d.c. fema headquarters is speaking with the national weather center officials right now. >> we have thrown everything at it from satellites and radar. we have expert balloon releases across the country. think about the midwest. think about the northwest united states. the weather service office is launching extra balloons to get that data into the models to try to get everything we can into the models to make these forecasts. hurricane hunters from the air force have been in the storm often at the same time. getting us the data we need and some of these updates that we

we'll hear from some folks from fpl, and also from deign eagle and danny petronis. you want to say a few things? >> thank you. good morning. i'm jim bush, an directsor of external affairs. on behalf of fpl, thank you governor, coming ute to greet the men and women who have come to respond. we have assembled a restoration workforce of more than 19,000. that includes employees, contractors, and men and women from partner utilities from around the country. there are more than 30 states represented here today. we have line workers who traveled in at this site from as far as texas and oklahoma, minnesota and north dakota. all to help florida respond to this challenge. there have been many times that fpl employees have traveled to other states to help them when they were in need, now they're here to return the favor, and we're grateful to them for that. here at the lake city processing site, these men and women will be briefed on the restoration challenges ahead. we will share or work and processes for storm procedures, so that everybody isboarded and ready to go. they wi

. >> john: if i know anything from having lived in florida for a time, fpl gets on it quickly, so as quick as they can get the infrastructure back up and running and electricity and people reconnected, but it's going to take some time. >> gillian: an effort. >> in future rick, had to replace almost every power pole. >> john: and a lot of the new neighborhoods in florida, the power cables are buried, so not up on a pole, so reconnecting neighborhoods will be the task. but you know, you've got power lines that run crisscross across the state and i'm sure a lot of those big ones came down in the storm and those things are really difficult to put back up, it will take a long time. but from what i know, the history of this company, they'll get it up as fast as they can. >> gillian: and the meantime, floridians are trying to get back home to assess the damage and they face as chris laid out, danger from not just debris that could physically hurt them, but the electric infrastructure. >> john: and yesterday dramatic pictures of a power line down and arcing away, it still had power to it. be

so people understand, fpl understands how significant and important this is to get the

at fpl, we did lose one single transmission tower. so that is critical. backbone is up and operational. we are in the process of getting the distribution system back up and the substations that had flying debris going into them cleared out, so we can get them back online. there are sections of our territory, close to the beach, along the barrier islands, that will require rebuilding. there is some destruction that simply can't be repaired and they have to be rebuilt. unfortunately, there are homes and businesses that will simply not be able to take the power once it is ready. but the 20,000 plus men and women who are already here are

at fpl, we did not lose one transmission tower, so backbone is up and operational, and now looking at the substations with flying debris into them and get them back online. there are essentials of the territory along the barrier islands that will require rebuilding. some areas cannot be repaired and they have to be rebuilt. and unfortunately, also homes and businesses will not be able to take the power once it's ready. but the 20,000 plus men and women who are already here are staging and getting out in the field currently. they will work 24/7 until we get the lights back on, again as the governor said, not our first rodeo, but every storm is also different, and always poses different challenges. appreciate all the support from the state, governor, thank you, from local law enforcement as well, the national guard, this is a team sport and a team effort and we are going to all work together until we get florida back up on our feet and where we all want to be. thank you. >> and when fpl and the other companies have crews in, the ex ten to which that infrastructure has remained is critic

at fpl, we did lose one single transmission tower. so that is critical. the backbone is up and operational. we are in the process of getting the distribution system back up and the substations that had flying debris going into them cleared out, so we can get them back online. there are sections of our territory, close to the beach, along the barrier islands, that will require rebuilding. there is some destruction that simply can't be repaired and they have to be rebuilt. unfortunately, there are homes and businesses that will simply not be able to take the power once it is ready. but the 20,000 plus men and women who are already here are staging and getting on the field currently, they will work 24/7, until we get the lights back on again, as the governor said, not our first rodeo, but every storm is also different and always face different challenges. and i appreciate all of the support from the state, governor, thank you, and from local law enforcement as well, the national guard, and this is a team sport, and a team effort, and we're going to all work

fpl the municipal association and its partners, the cooperative electric programs are getting their stuff turned back on. please be patient. we have every faith and trust in them to restore the power. however in places are going to have to rebuild infrastructure, that is going to take longer as the governor mentioned. fort myers beach, sanibel, pine islands, that is going to take some time. in those areas we do have other challenges for their potentially vehicles in the water that are potentially boats in the water there's potentially debris in the water. will be working with our federal partners to mission assignments special resources to go in there and start looking under the water to do an underwater survey to ensure we can actually get the necessary barges and heavy equipment into those areas to respond effectively. i think this is an appropriate time to say thank you very much for all of your assistance. admiral pierson as well on tag in general has been with me day one. 0700 which means he had to leave saint augusta at zero for something. thank you very much. we continue to mobiliz

fpl is working pretty quickly to start getting power restored. we're seeing some benefit already. >> i thank you so much for being with us. just the extraordinary work of the men ask women of your department. i thank you for your time. our special coverage of tropical storm ian continues here from bradenton. coming up, we'll talk to florida state senator who lives in tampa about what she's seeing and hearing from her constituents. >>> plus we'll talk with a minister from an orlando church about what he's hearing from people in his community. but first, here's fort myers mayor on the "today" show on how ian compares to other storms. >> i came here in the mid-'70s. i was on the police department for almost 25 years. i saw a lot of storms here. this is by far the worst storm i have ever witnessed. ve ever wie. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (cecily) adam. look-y what i got... (adam) is that the new iphone 14 pro? ♪ ♪ (cecily) yup, with this amazing new camera. smile! (adam) and you got it on verizon? (cecily) even better. i got verizon's new plan. includes apple one. th

since the storm began, we've restored power to more than 700,000 fpl customers.ly into the western part of the state, we restored power to 150,000 customers in those western regions. >> it's amazing that there's still 1.1 million customers of yours without power, but you've been able to restore 700,000. it just gives people say rolling nature of this, more gets knocked out you get more on. that's just the way things go. what are the challenges? you talked about the southern and western part of the state. what are the challenges for you there? because we saw some of these communities under 10 feet of water. how do you get the power back up in places like that? >> so, we're going to find out today exactly what the devastation looked like, what we're up against in terms of the damage that's been done to the electrical system. you know, as light comes on, we'll have crews out there as soon as it's safe to do so. we have to wait until winds get below 35 miles an hour to be able to do that but once we're able to do that, it should take about 24 hours to get an assessme

we'll work closely with the power company fpl does a fabulous job of pooling resources from around the country to get the quickest restoration of power as possible. you know, until it happens, we don't know what we're faced with. but we know the water, wind damage and loss of electricity. >> harris: when do decisions start to get made. i have flown into your airport. such a beautiful location where you are on the gulf side of florida. and i'm wondering when were decisions made about travel in terms of airport closures, that sort of thing? >> you know, it's a very delicate balance. you don't want to close down too soon and affect people's ability to travel and you don't want to affect commerce any more than you have to. there comes a point where it's clear, this is a safety issue and we must act accordingly and do what's right for the public. >> harris: are you doing text messages, what type of communication can you make with the people you lead, mayor? >> we're doing all kinds of social media, facebook, text, we have the city website has information posted. we're doing everything we ca

at fpl we didn't lose one single transmission tower.p and the substations that have flying debris go into them cleared out so we can get them back online. there are sections close to the beach along the barrier islands that will require rebuilding. there's some destructive areas that simply cannot be repaired

we're actually looking at working with our fpl partners to actually cut some grid, the power -- thought gnat we have power here but want it make sure there's nothing in water going to be live that puts our first responders in harms way because we have to make sure they're safe. >> so what is your message to people in the city who are facing serious flooding who may be in their homes? what should they do? >> number one, be encouraged. number two, is actually take heed. the city of fort myers put out a cu curfew as well as lee county. so we don't want anyone leaving their homes. the last thing we need to do is put people into an unknown situation. so if they can be encouraged, hydrate themselves. we're coming for them in the morning. we have assets and resources, other different areas that sent resources. we are coming. what we need to do -- and i know it's a tough thing to say, anderson. its a tough thing to say moo our folks is just to hold on. we want to make sure they do not venture out. it's not safe to go out but come to them as soon as possible. if they're still here and able to th

at fpl we didn't lose one single transmission tower. we are now in the process of getting the distribution system back up and the substations that have flying debris go into them cleared out so we can get them back online. there are sections close to the beach along the barrier islands that will require rebuilding. there's some destructive areas that simply cannot be repaired and they'll have to be rebuilt. unfortunately, there are also homes and businesses that will simply not be able to safely take the power once it's ready. but the 20,000 plus men and women who are already here are staging and getting on the field currently. they will work 24/7 until we get the lights back on. again, as the governor said, not our first rodeo, but every storm is also different and always poses different challenges. but appreciate all the support from the state. governor, thank you. from local law enforcement as well, national guard. this is a team sport and a team effort, and we're going to all work together until we get florida back up on her feet an

the good news is here we are, we re stowed power to more than half of fpl customers so we've restoredgo. we have a team of about 21,000 people spread out throughout the state to make sure that where folks are in the dark and maybe not as severely impacted we're actively working to restore power right now and reconnecting people every minute, every hour of the day and wouldn't stoll until everybody is back on. >> let me ask you this. this is not the first storm and not last to come through here. do you need a reassign. to bury power facilities. is that in the view of your company a necessary step to reduce the damage from the next storm? >> it is one of the tools in our tool box when it comes to strengthening the electric grid for our customers. we have a lot of underground lines and new construction is underground. and we have programs where we take existing lines and bury them. so that is certainly helping when it comes to wind. it doesn't always help when it comes to flooding. underground equipment could be damaged by flooding and more difficult to access. to undergounding helps and

my understanding is fpl has been working and some of those have been restored. all we can do right now is just hunker down and wait. we prepared. we've warned. we have distributed supplies. right now it's -- all we have is each other. we have to stand together and make sure we get through this. >> neil: you've been there for your people. you put yourself in harm's way. many ignored your urgent orders to evacuate. i've heard it from your florida mayor colleagues that ran into the same issue. not across the board but unusual that so many opted not to evacuate or take their chances. what can you tell me about what is happening in your city? >> well, the thing about mandatory evacuations, they're not mandatory. people just feel that, you know, we're in florida, we have been through this before, we can hunker down and we can get through this. maybe you can, maybe you can't. all i know is that this is a very different hurricane than what i've seen in the past. this has destructive potential. it is slow, it's strong. it can cause a lot of havoc staying one place at onc

there is going to be some that will require some rebuilds and so the utilities, fpl was down there first thing. they understand that and are prepared to do it. the other issue with lee county they've asked support from they had a water main break for the county water utility. that means that the county does not have water at this point. and you need that to be able to function in society. they've requested support from fema and then we fema was able to provide the army corps of engineers and they were on the ground after kevin called them at 3:00 in the morning yesterday. they were on the ground from jacksonville in the afternoon. they've been working to assessing that situation. we also have florida national guard personnel standing by to help the army corp if they need it. that will be something very critical to be able to get that back. it may require more of a rebuild. maybe it will require some more short term remediation. they are going through that. that's clearly a top priority. we're thankful that fema and the army corps are there helping out. we have -- there is a lot of folks

since the start to have the storm, we have more than 2 million fpl customers in power outages. mean, however, that we still have one million customers without power. that's predominantly on the west coast of the state, that's where we've seen the biggest effect from the storm. >> are there areas that the infrastructure itself has been destroyed and what's the time line on that? >> absolutely. so the good news is that if you look at the west coast, while we still have a million customers out, we were there yesterday assessing the damage. we're continuing to do that. that's going to continue over the next couple of days. one of the silver linings is that our transmission structures held up very well in this storm. we have put significant investment into our grid to harden it over the last ten years. and those investments paid off because the transmission structures held even in almost a category five storm. that's a good sign because then we can concentrate on getting into those communities that are water logged right now, where we've seen the flood damage and after we do that, w

parks of debris and projectiles, our fuel farms, we checked on those and operating and ready to go, fplo facilitate that and of course, our police had planned on an evacuation and redirecting traffic and we can hunker down now and we don't want a single resident to be impacted negatively by this. >> you're looking at the left-hand side of your screen, at inglewood beach florida, you can see how windy it is getting there. mr. mayor, you sound frustrated. >> no, not frustrated, just, you know, i still hear the individuals that do not want to leave, and they feel that they're going to be fine, they're going to hunker down in a flood zone, in an evacuation zone, the barrier islands, the water front, which is extremely dangerous. but you know, it's frustrating just being in this position, because you know, nobody asks to be hit by a hurricane, we just need to prepare for it, and knowing that we are a coastal city, we have been preparing for it, for years, and we are as prepared as we can be, and we have prioritized, we have assembled some of the best teams that anyone can have, and we activa